The rich may be different from you and me, but they’re probably not much like the grotesque stereotypes in Shari Springer Berman & Robert Pulcini’s adaptation of this glib bestseller. They’ve reduced it to the shrillest formula. Annie (Scarlett Johansson), a working-class college grad from New Jersey, becomes the punching-bag enabler for “Mrs. X” (Laura Linney), a “Fifth Avenue mother,” filthy rich, idle, neurotic, and far too busy to spend time with her charmless and spoiled four-year-old. Annie not only submits to the boy’s every whim but gamely serves as an outlet for Mrs. X’s fury at the boorish infidelities of Mr. X (Paul Giamatti as a troll). Surely, an hour and a half of such torture must end with a confrontational speech to a teddy bear, the deification of motherhood, and the vindication of PB&Js as better than coquilles Saint-Jacques? Phony from start to finish, and a shocking disappointment from the makers of American Splendor.

Review: Iron Man 2 Maybe I’m just relieved that it wasn’t in 3-D, or maybe actor Justin Theroux (frequent David Lynch collaborator and co-scripter of Tropic Thunder ) is just a better writer than the law firm of scribes that pasted together the original, but Jon Favreau’s sequel to his creaky adaptation of the rusty Marvel standby Iron Man restores my lack of faith in superheroes.

Apocalypse now and then With Snakes on a Plane and World Trade Center opening on the same day, this summer won’t be offering the usual escapist fare.

The Illusionist What is it about magicians that they’re able to conjure the most stunningly attractive women, only to have them disappear? Watch the trailer for The Illusionist (Quicktime)